Catherine Zeta-Jones & Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt easily conned a casino boss in Ocean’s Eleven – but how will he fare against his ex-girlfriend? In Ocean’s Twelve, the actor re-teams with George Clooney, Matt Damon and the rest of the crew, while facing off with Catherine Zeta-Jones, who plays an ex-girlfriend of his character (Rusty Ryan) who happens to be a Europol agent specializing in hunting down master thieves. Zeta-Jones and Pitt recently talked about Europe, onscreen chemistry and her becoming an official member of “George Clooney’s crew.”

Brad, what was it like getting back into character and going back to work?Pitt: I’d like to call it work, but it was pretty much automatic for us. First of all, there’s a very low level of maturity amongst all the guys there. So that helps – we bond very quickly because of it. Then we’ve got the beautiful women to make us look a little better, but it’s pretty automatic.

Did you guys play any jokes on Catherine?Pitt: I think that the biggest joke was on Catherine because she actually thought that we were making a movie. Being the new kid, no one told her. So she was up learning lines and doing character breakdowns and we just let her roll with it.

How was shooting in Italy?Pitt: The sequel was actually hatched on our trip, our final trip when we were doing the press tour for the first one and our last stop was Italy. (Director) Steven (Soderbergh) says, “I have an idea for the second one.” So it was actually born there.

A little different than shooting in Las Vegas?Pitt: I’m not really sure how to answer that. We’re just the antithesis of each other as far as culture and lack of culture, I guess. It’s bright neon and everything new, versus history and ancientness.

Catherine, how was working with Brad? Zeta-Jones: I loved doing the movie with him. I’d like to do another.

Pitt: I’m thinking a musical.

How did you get involved in this film, Catherine?Zeta-Jones: I met Steven Soderbergh on Traffic. I knew that Ocean’s Twelve was going to be starting up soon. I knew that they were writing it. I got a call and they wanted to meet about a script. They didn’t say what it was, but I assumed that it was Ocean’s Twelve. I liked my character. I liked the arc. So here I am.

How was working on Traffic compared to working on Ocean’s?It’s just easy and it’s fun. The difference is that the story of Traffic compared to Ocean’s is so different. But the process was the same and the fun and the attitude is contagious.

This is also your second film with George Clooney. (The first was Intolerable Cruelty.) Does this officially make you a member of George Clooney’s crew?Zeta-Jones: I hope so. Yeah.